Los Angeles: 23-year-old Indian student goes missing in US

PTC News Desk: The newest case in the nation as the community deals with a run of similar incidents involving students is a 23-year-old Indian student who has been missing in the US state of California since last week. Police have asked the public for assistance in finding her.

Police say that on May 28, Nitheesha Kandula, a student at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB), vanished from sight.

John Guttierez, the Chief of Police at CSUSB, stated in a post on X on Sunday that she was last seen in Los Angeles and was reported missing on May 30.

“#MissingPersonAlert: California State University, San Bernardino Police along with our partners in #LAPD, is asking anyone with information on the whereabouts of @CSUSBNews Nitheesha Kandula, to contact us at: (909) 537-5165,” according to the police.

According to a written statement from the police, Kandhula was described as being 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing around 160 pounds (72.5 kg), and having black hair and eyes.

The statement said she might have been driving a 2021 Toyota Corolla with a California license plate, of which the color was unclear.

Authorities said, “Anyone with information is urged to contact the CSUSB Police Department at (909) 538-7777, or the LAPD’s Southwest Division at (213) 485-2582.” They were pleading that anyone who has knowledge on her whereabouts to come forward. Rupesh Chandra Chintakind, a 26-year-old Indian student, was reported missing in Chicago last month.

A 25-year-old Indian student who had been missing since March was discovered dead in Cleveland, Ohio, earlier in April. Originating in Nacharam, Hyderabad, Mohammad Abdul Arfath came to the US in May of last year to attend Cleveland University to pursue a master’s degree in information technology.

Amarnath Ghosh, an Indian classical dancer of 34 years of age, was shot and killed in St. Louis, Missouri, in March. On February 5, Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University, was discovered dead in an Indiana nature preserve.

Vivek Taneja, a 41-year-old IT executive of Indian descent, was attacked outside a restaurant in Washington on February 2 and sustained potentially fatal injuries.

University of Illinois student Akul Dhawan, 18, was discovered unconscious outside a campus building in January. Authorities concluded that acute alcohol intoxication and extended exposure to extremely low temperatures had a key role in his death, even though investigations showed that he died of hypothermia. 

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